The opposites of Hantai - Quiet but mighty

(Granola-makers, bread-bakers and sex surveys provided the backdrop for this week's In the Kitchen with... as campus band Hantai, college junior Aaron Simmons and sophomore Ginger Brooks, were interviewed by arts editor Mara Nelson in Harkness's dining room.)

ginger brooks: I started playing bass after winter term last year, my first year at Oberlin, when I moved into Harkness. Lena Helansky asked me if I wanted to play bass in her band - I didn't know how to play, but I really wanted to. So I started playing bass with her - I played a lot of bass by myself too - and then I asked Aaron: Do you want to play pop songs together?

aaron simmons: That was about a year ago.

mn: Were you friends for a long time before then?

gb: Not really. I just kind of knew him a little bit...

mn: You just knew you were into similar music?

gb: Yeah, that's probably why I asked him.

mn: So similar influences, like what?

gb: (laughter) Ohhh.... Actually I was into a lot more poppier stuff at that point... I was really into Unrest. I guess we were both into Versus.

as: That's still a good influence.

gb: I think we've gotten more angsty. After about a week of playing, it wasn't even a pop band anymore.

mn: What would you call yourselves if you're not a pop band?

gb: Oh no.... (laughter) a moody...

as: A bedroom band...

gb: Chimp rock...

mn: Hantai means opposites?

as: Opposite.

gb: It means backwards in Japanese.

mn: Why did you choose that name?

gb: I came up with the name before we'd really thought about the meaning of it. But it fits well because we don't have a drummer. We're just different.

mn: Have you thought about playing with a drummer?

as: We've gone through many drummers. We started out with a drummer, but that didn't work out - conflicting styles. We worked with a couple more people after that - but they didn't work out either. We had already written all the songs and it was hard for the drummers to come up with stuff that they wanted to play, yet fit the song and didn't change what we had already constructed.

gb: It's just hard to add another person's creative style to this mood already created by us.

as: So we decided that we didn't really need a drummer - we'd rather just keep it the two of us.

mn: What's the deal with the drummer who decided to join you on stage?

as: (laughter) At one of our shows... that was with Flex Lavender right?

gb: It was with Flex Lavender and we were just playing... (laughter)

as: The middle of the song...

gb: And all of a sudden this kid just walks up and starts playing the drums that were set up for Flex Lavender. I stopped playing, turned around and looked at him like: What are you doing? Then Aaron stopped playing and the boy was like: I just wanted to take you guys to another level...

rippy: (from across the kitchen) I heard that guy was really good.

gb: (laughter) I don't know... Earlier in the evening, this other kid came up to me and said: Can I drum with you guys? And I was like: right now? And he was like: Yeah, Yeah. And I was like: No, no...

as: People have this big problem, they can't listen to something and enjoy it without drums. I don't really understand that.

gb: I always wonder what will happen when people listen to the tape. Do they automatically hear that there aren't any drums? Are they searching.... Where are the drum parts... I don't feel there's a need for drums in everything.

mn: Is Hidden Castles the first tape you've put out?

gb: Yeah, during the summer we made a lot of recordings for ourselves on boomboxes, but this is the first time we recorded on four track.

rippy (aka: that guy who's been making granola in Harkness on and off for the past 10 years but never actually went to school here): Are you getting interviewed?

gb: Yeah.

rippy: For what magazine?

as: Spin.

gb: Alternative Press.

rippy: (nodding at mara) And you?

mn: I'm interviewing them.

rippy: What magazine are you with?

mn: I freelance for Spin and Alternative Press.

rippy: Ah, cool...

mn: Yeah, it's really exciting for them.

rippy: Are you going to have color pictures?

as: It's going to be a full page spread.

Rippy gets distracted by breadbakers filling out a sex survey and wanders away.

mn: I noticed that the tape has three different covers.

gb: Oh my gosh. (laughter)

mn: Why is that?

as: We couldn't agree on a style for the album, and we each wanted to contribute to the cover. So we came up with a plan to make the cover foldable so it could have three covers. We used two of my drawings and one of Ginger's. mn: Is it true that half of the albums say, "Hantai is Ginger and Aaron" and half say, "Hantai is Aaron and Ginger."

gb: That's not true.

as: They all say Ginger and Aaron.

gb: We were going to do half and half, I'm not sure why that didn't happen.

as: Because I conceded, it didn't matter to me.

mn: So all of the rumors about internal differences in Hantai Tai are overblown?

gb: (laughter) We're both pretty stubborn people. It's just that we're both really creative and if one person did everything, then the other would feel like they weren't being represented.

mn: Ginger, I loved the crush zine that you put out during the summer, that was adorable...

gb: Thanks.

mn: Any crushes now?

as: A lot. (laughter)

gb: Always.

mn: Okay, last question, cutest indie-rocker?

as: Can we pick a girl and a boy each?

mn: Of course.

gb: Oh gosh. For boy I'll say Ashbury of Polvo.

as: For a girl I'll say Pumpkin of Guv'ner.

gb: Girl - Bridgett Cross of Unrest.

as: Boy - the guitarist in Unwound. When we were in D.C. we saw them play with Blonde Redhead at the Black Cat.

gb: That was probably one of the best shows of the summer.

as: One of the songs on the tape is about D.C., but it doesn't have any words. It's the last one.